The Shadow of Kaon

Last honor

As Darkwing sat in one of the corners of the medbay, staring at the dozens of peds rushing back and forth while her servos wrapped around her own frame to keep her in a type of comfort, the only thing that filled her Spark was... emptiness. A dark and cold void spread across her whole body, from her antennas to her peds, leaving her with only numbness.

She knew that she should have felt something, anything... but it was still nothing. Like everything would have become silent for her, the outlines of the others completely blurred, and the colors drained from her environment.

Maybe it was only days since the Nemesis returned onto the surface of the planet, maybe it was more... She couldn't tell. Her thoughts were too far from this plane of existence to worry about such small things.

He was gone.

Lord Megatron, the leader of the Decepticons, was dead.

And she couldn't do anything against it.

' Useless. Completely useless. '

As her digits scraped along her sides and she winced from the pain, her mind wandered off once again just like it did so many times in the last days, taking her far from the ship, the planet, and the whole chaos of the war, back into a time that felt like an entirely different life.

Back in those days , she was a completely different bot. She had just joined the gladiator fights not long before, being one of the many nameless bots in the Pits without a place that she could really call home... but it was fine by her. It was a life she chose to live.

As her opponent fell to the ground, the femme tightened her hold on the broken blade in her left hand, her right gripping her injured side while her optics darted around in the arena, not knowing what to expect from the bots above. Her deep red gaze shifted between the high walls around the fighting ground, the shattered , but still shining sword pieces below her peds, and the crowd that murmured and moved in their seats like a sentient, giant pile of metal.

The speaker above the arena creaked loudly, making her wince from the sudden sound, and as she looked up, the annoyingly squawking voice of the arena's owner rang out.

"Dear mechs and fembots, to everybody's surprise, in her very first match in the Pits, the femme claims a flawless victory!" Stated the voice that echoed through the open space, and a second later, the roaring of the crowd followed it. "Whoever dared to bet on her win, please go to the booths outside to claim your earnings. The fights will continue soon."

Did she really just win the match?

She took a short glance at the sword in her hand, opening her hold around it and watching as it fell to the ground, clanking lightly. Her, until now quietly swearing and groaning opponent, looked up, their face and neckcables dripping Energon from their injuries , but without any reaction, the femme just turned around, quickly taking her leave from the arena.

The cleaners would probably take the injured bot to that fumbling medic who took care of damaged bots down here, so for now, her only goal was to get away from the fights until her next match.

As she reached through the small exit that had earlier let her in, and the shadows inside surrounded her, she sighed quietly.

"Well... it wasn't bad for a first match." She muttered to herself, still holding her side while taking one step after the other in the dark corridor, but even there, she heard the deep sound of a horn, indicating the start of a new match.

"I agree. You have caused quite a bit of entertainment for your spectators." The femme quickly turned her helm backward at these sudden words, trying to see the silhouette of the bot who had just spoken. "I put five Energon cubes on betting that, you will be on the ground in two minutes."